Tank Brigade Experience

"To Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Lieutenant General Fedorenko

Experience in battle, especially the experience of the [91st Tank] Brigade between August 21st and 29th, 1942, shows that the KV tank lost its advantage over the T-34 in protection, as the same caliber of gun can penetrate both the KV and T-34. The KV has a significantly different weight and dimensions than the T-34, is less maneuverable, and is thus inferior to the T-34.

Experiments in Tankograd

"People's Commissariat of Tank Production

#1041s

February 9th, 1942

To the Deputy Chair of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, People's Commissar of Tank Production, V.A. Malyshev

The creation and deployment of a powerful heavy tank production center in the Urals requires the rapid organization of a design center based on the concentration of tank and engine designers already gathered here and a special experimental production base that has yet to be created.

Bug with a Big Caliber

Germany was a leader in self propelled artillery at the start of WWII. Approaching the idea of motorized artillery from a new angle, they ended up with a wide spectrum of SPGs by the middle of the war. This also applied to self propelled howitzers, which were first used in France in 1940. Truly mass produced SPHes entered service closer to mid-1943. These were the Grille (Grasshopper), the best SPG series with the 149 mm sIG 33 howitzer.

T-34 Variants

"Tactical-technical requirements for the T-34 "SU-34" SPG

	T-34 (mass production)	T-34 lightened (SPG)	T-34M	T-34 thickened	T-34M lightened (SPG)
Mass (tons)	27.5	23.5-24	25.5	28-28.5	19-20
Armament*	76 mm or 57 mm gun	85 mm gun**	57, 76, or 85 mm gun	57, 76, or 85 mm gun	85 mm gun in a turret
Ammunition	77 rounds for the 76 mm gun 85 rounds for the 57 mm gun	45-50 rounds for the 85 mm gun	107 rounds for the 76 mm gun 110 rounds for the 57 mm gun 65-70 rounds for the 85 mm gun	Same	65-70 rounds for the 85 mm gun
Crew	4	4	5	5	5
Armour
Front	45	25-30	45	60	30
Side	45	25-30	45	60	25-30
Roof	13-16	16	20	30	16
Floor	13-16	10	20	30	16
Turret	45	25	45	60	25

All other characteristics of the tanks are the same.

* All tanks also have a machine gun for self defense.

** 85 mm gun without a turret with a limited traverse of +/-15 degrees.

CAMD RF F.38 Op.11355 D.6 L.146

Panther Penetration

"Maximum penetration at which the armour of the German Panther tank is destroyed

Composed according to experimental firing data.

System	Ammunition type	Maximum distance in meters at which penetration was achieved  during experimental firing						Effect
		Front armour			Side armour
		Upper sloped plate (90 mm)	Lower sloped plate (50-65 mm)	Gun mantlet (100 mm cast)	Turret side (45-50 mm)	Upper side (45-50 mm)	Lower side (45 mm)
45 mm gun mod. 1942	APT BR-240	-	-	-	400	300	400	Complete penetration of the turret and hull side armour.
	APIT BZR-240	-	-	-	400	300	400
	APCR BR-240P	-	-	-	400	300	400
57 mm gun mod. 1941	APT BR-271	-	-	-	1200	1200	1200
	APIT BZR-271	-	-	-	1000	1000	1000
	APT BR-271 SP	-	-	-	1200	1200	1200
	APCR BR-271P	-	-	-	1200	1200	1200
76 mm regimental gun mod. 1927	HEAT BP-354A	-	-	-	600	600	600	Complete penetration of the sloped turret armour.
76 mm regimental gun mod. 1943	HEAT BP-344A	-	-	-	600	600	600
76 mm ZIS-3 mod. 1942	APT BR-350	300	300	-	1200	1200	1200	Penetrates the turret and the side of the hull.
	APCR BR-350P	300	300	-	1200	1200	1200
	HEAT BP-350	300	300	-	1200	1200	1200
SU-76	APIT BZR-354	300	300	-	1200	1200	1200
	APCR BR-354P	300	300	-	1200	1200	1200
SU-85	APT BR-365	1000	1000	1000	1500	1500	1500	Complete penetration of various parts of the hull.
	APT BR-365 SP	1000	1000	1000	1500	1500	1500
122 mm gun mod. 1938	HEAT BP-463	800	800	800	1000	1000	1000	Penetrates armour and detonate the ammunition.
KV-122	APT	1200	1200	1200	1500	1500	1500	A shot to the front destroys the tank.
152 mm gun mod. 1937	AP BP-545	800 m and closer						The front armour is penetrated.

Confirmed: Authorized representative of the Operational Department of Artillery of the 1st Belorussian Front, Colonel Levit

Confirmed: Colonel Utin"

Armour Up

"Order of the People's Commissar of Tank Production of the USSR

Moscow

July 23rd 1943

In order to achieve rapid organization and preparations for production of heavy IS tank hulls from high hardness steel, I order that:

1. The Chief Designer of the NKTP (comrade Kotin) must rework the blueprints of the hull by August 8th of this year to allow for production from high hardness steel. The design must be suitable for mass production.

The Real Panzer '46

There is a certain group of people who are dead certain that if the Germans got lucky and held on for at least a year then they would get a second chance. The only reaction to this opinion can be a smile. These day-dreamers should understand the state of German industry and what their opponents were doing in the same fields in order to realize the potential Germany had in late 1945 and early 1946.

One of the fan favourites among the "second chance" theorists are the military vehicle projects. Allegedly, if they had the time, these could be built. The reason for this hope is that information about German military projects became available several decades earlier than Allied ones. The first information (or rather, digests) became available towards the mid-60s. This was typically not original German documents, but Allied intelligence reports, which contained a ton of mistakes. The same can be seen in Soviet reports. The first documents to be declassified were ones related to aircraft. Aviation developed at a breakneck pace, and various napkinwaffe were only interesting in the years immediately following the war. The situation with tanks was much more complicated. There were fewer of them and little information remains regarding prospective projects.

The E-50/E-75 was one of those projects. It is mentioned often, frequently as a wonder weapon that would have composed a new generation of German tanks if it was ever put into production. Yuri Pasholok wrote about it before, but it's time to revisit the topic without rose tinted glasses.

A SPAAG for the Panzerwaffe

The result of battles in WWII was often decided by tank spearheads that cracked open defensive lines like a tin can. Combat against tanks was a priority and every possible asset was aimed against them, including aircraft. This in turn required effective AA guns that could follow tank units. The optimal solution was the installation of AA guns on tank chassis, as this solved the problem of giving the guns mobility on par with tanks. The Germans were some of the first to attack the problem of creating highly mobile SPAAGs. Work began in 1940 and the 2 cm Flak 38 auf (Sf) Pz.Kpfw. 38(t) Ausf. M (Sd.Kfz. 140), unofficially called Flakpanzer 38(t), was born in 1943.

Bombs vs Tanks

The eternal question of aircraft vs tanks came up during the recent stream with Valeriy Zamulin about the Battle of Kursk.

"I saw an analysis I think in August-September of 1943 of using HE bombs on enemy concentrations of armoured vehicles. They specified in brackets: tanks, APCs, accompanying wheeled vehicles. It clearly said that the effectiveness of HE bombs against enemy armoured groups was rather low. Causes:

1. The armoured groups are highly mobile. Consider this: you order the strike against tanks, point it out, the order goes through several HQs (army, front, airstrip) and by the time the airplanes  gather and arrive there is no one there. 
2. The Germans used concealment well, like smokescreens. It was also rare for significant armoured forces to be concentrated on a narrow section of the front. If the Germans came up with an armoured group it would immediately scatter and when bombed (according to our statistics) about 5% were hit. "

Video: Soviet Tank Destroyers Part 1

My latest video is up. In the first part of this series, I take a look at one of the various kinds of troops known as "tank destroyers" in the Red Army.

The Elusive Maus

The Maus tank still inspires the imaginations of military history enthusiasts to this day, but the Allies knew nothing about it until after Germany's surrender. In my latest article on Warspot.net I take a look at how the British pieced together scraps of information from documents, interrogations, and inspections of captured materiel to discover the secret of Germany's largest tank.

The Elusive Maus